Officially Shopping For a Used PUP!

[jerem0621]

Super excited about this! We are finally ready to start shopping for a PUP. We are coming from our TT and are really excited to be downsizing our family camping experience!

Looking forward to more memories and more good times at the campground.

And better towing maneuverability and MPG! Woot Woot!

Anyone have any idea what kind of WD hitch works best with a PUP? I'm thinking the Andersen WD hitch would be a good hitch for a pup.

thanks!

Jeremiah

[jerem0621]

Veik wrote:
Folks,

is 2011 Coleman Americana Utah a good, solid unit?

Yes, one of the best brands in Pop ups

My Father in law has a Coleman Niagra and its a very well crafted unit with a lot of attention to detail by the makers.

Good luck!

Jeremiah

[Veik]

Folks,

is 2011 Coleman Americana Utah a good, solid unit?

[jerem0621]

Thanks for the heads up PAThwacker,

I double checked my owners manual and for 2008 the only model that was prohibited from a WD hitch was the LTD. The frame on this MAC is a solid 4 inch tube. I'm not sure if they changed the frames on the MAC line in later years.

I am not using a WD hitch, at least for now as the van tows great. Once the Rig is loaded up I will have to re-evaluate based on how things balance out.


Thanks bunches!

Jeremiah

[PAThwacker]

jerem0621 wrote:
Just a quick update everyone!

We bought a Flagstaff Mac 228D earlier this week. To say that we are excited is an understatement!

It has everything that we wanted. Here are a few pics. I apologize for the low quality pics.





The Van tows great! The Pentastar is really a fantastic motor.

I got about 1/2 inch rise on the front without a WD hitch...handled excellent and seemed to have normal steering and handling characteristics. Super easy tow home.

Now, just to finish cleaning it up and getting ready to go camping!

Thanks!

Jeremiah

Hi Jeremiah,
Nice pup.
Back when I had my 2010 flagstaff Classic series 625D I emailed them about WDH hitches. The classics 425D and 625D were no problems with WDH. They "forest river" specifically stated that "Mac" series popups could not use wdh hitches.

[jerem0621]

Yes, the slide out is the dinette. It really opens the pup up on the inside. No additional supports needed like the earlier pups with slides. The frame is a 4 inch boxed frame.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[fmattox73]

What's inside the slide? Dining? and are there no braces/supports for the slide?

[AirForceAngler]

Looks like a nice rig! Enjoy!

[jerem0621]

Just a quick update everyone!

We bought a Flagstaff Mac 228D earlier this week. To say that we are excited is an understatement!

It has everything that we wanted. Here are a few pics. I apologize for the low quality pics.





The Van tows great! The Pentastar is really a fantastic motor.

I got about 1/2 inch rise on the front without a WD hitch...handled excellent and seemed to have normal steering and handling characteristics. Super easy tow home.

Now, just to finish cleaning it up and getting ready to go camping!

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[BudRock]

The good POP UPs go quick. You should be prepared to act fast if you find one you are interested in.
Sold my old one in two days to second person who looked at it. First person liked it too but was it not as big as they wanted. The ones in poorer shape will be around longer. Look for any signs of water damage. Water leaks are the biggest problem for pups.

Campers at dealers have the highest mark up. They will be in no rush to bargain this time of year, after sitting on the campers all winter.

Seems to me that the best time to buy is fall.

Good Luck with you hunt.

[jerem0621]

We thought we had found our PUP... I had been talking with a dealer about 90 miles from me about a used PUP they had. Lots of detailed pics and the salesman had set it up and plugged it up for us and we were on our way to see/get it. An 05 Viking with a front storage compartment, slide dinette, cassette toilet, and a couch. 30 miles into my trip I get a call from the dealer informing me the PUP was just sold by another location that the dealership owned...:M So it goes... so It goes.

He was disappointed, and I was very disappointed.. oh well, the hunt continues.

Do you know how hard it is to find a good used PUP with a slide out, toilet AND a 77 inch couch? ARGHHH!! Hopefully one in our budget comes available soon.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

[jerem0621]

We took a step back and re-assessed our situation. We let the 'Used' 2014 pass and are going to focus on more used lower cost PUP's for our first PUP. We still want the goodies, slide out, wet bath, King size bed, but we want to stay under 5k for our first purchase.

We figure if we love PUP camping we will upgrade to a newer pup in a few years.

It may be a used camper we are looking for but it has to be a nice one.

Funny, our budget for this lightweight is much more than we paid for our 31 Ft Layton TT ... And finding nice TT's in our new budget doesn't seem to be a problem. One thing is for sure, you do not really save money on the initial purchase of a PUP vs TT... At least used ones.

Thanks

Jeremiah

[PAThwacker]

So far I had glamper slide out low pup, big mistake, bought it new and traded for a loss. Loving a hybrid, no real reason to upgrade. Want a popup with hybrid end northstar truck camper. Man, canvas is the only reason I buy these things.

[AirForceAngler]

Best of luck and hope it works out better for you than it did for us. We started years ago with a PUP then moved to a TT. After several years with TT and a few years not camping much we thought we'd move back to a PUP. That worked for a year. We're now back in a TT, just a smaller one than our last one.

[jerem0621]

Found some models we really like this weekend. Looked specifically at some Flagstaff and some Viking pups.

DW (and me too) really liked the 2014 Flagstaff 625D. That's a model with the slide dinette and the cassette toilet/wet bath combo. It's a used unit.. Said the PO's had it for a very short time and upgraded to a hybrid. Thing was like brand new!

We still looking at this point but so far we are really liking our options.

Funny thing, when DW tried on the wet bath she commented about how much more room there was (hip, shoulder, and knee) compared to our closet toilet we had in the TT.

When I said used PUP I really didn't expect to be considering a barely used unit...

The Vikings felt poorly constructed compared to the Flagstaff Classics we were looking at.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE shopping.

Thanks!

Jeremiah